Healthy Diet to Overcome Alcoholism

Alcoholics gain over half their calories from alcohol, and they usually fail to eat properly over the course of their addiction. Once an alcoholic enters treatment to eliminate their alcohol intake, they face many nutritional challenges. It is possible they may have developed other conditions such as hypertension, obesity, malnourishment as well as symptoms like nausea and diarrhea. Addressing dietary concerns promptly by eliminating alcoholic dietary concerns and adding a healthy alcoholism recovery diet will give an alcoholic a better chance to recover.

Alcoholic Dietary Concerns

As an alcoholic begins to modify his alcohol intake to overcome his alcoholism, he must be counseled about alcoholic dietary concerns. For example, caffeine in coffee is often abused by alcoholics during their alcoholism as well as during their alcoholism recovery diet. During their alcoholic addiction they likely used coffee as a counterweight to alcohol, and they may then use coffee as a crutch during recovery. Too much coffee during recovery can cause the patient to become irritable and create a reason for her to relapse with alcohol. Eliminate or reduce caffeine intake right away during the recovery phase.

Other alcoholic dietary concerns include the poor eating habits of an alcoholic during their addiction. In most cases, alcoholics replace a well-balanced diet with convenient food choices---fast food and junk food---that are filled with harmful fats, salts and sugars. Eliminate any fast food, sodas, fried foods and sweets as a general rule when creating a proper alcoholism recovery diet. It may be necessary to apply a fast rule that forces the recovering alcoholic to eat only home- cooked foods.

Alcoholism Recovery Diet

The effects of alcohol on the body---especially the liver---are considerable. Generous alcohol consumption hampers the ability of the liver to store fat soluble vitamins such as A, D and E. Most alcoholics are also deficient in calcium, folate, magnesium, thiamin and several other important vitamins and nutrients. Because this affects every system in the body, including the immune system, alcoholics become sicker easier than the general population.

Start an alcoholism recovery diet by eating vegetables that have crisp green, red and orange coloring such as peppers, spinach, broccoli and carrots as well as fruits such as oranges and grapefruits. This combination will increase the levels of vitamin C and antioxidants in the body. Eat five servings of fruits and vegetables each day.

Increase your intake of protein---four to five ounces---per day through low-fat meats such as chicken, turkey and fish. In addition, eat three ounces of whole grains per day and avoid refined or white flour products.

To increase your levels of magnesium and zinc, eat a serving of beans, sesame seeds, lemons, eggs, pumpkin seeds or lean steak per day.